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Vincenzo Vittorio Baglietto

Biography of Vincenzo Vittorio Baglietto

V V Baglietto, 1913-14 Engineering Students

Vincenzo Vittorio Baglietto graduated BSc from the University of Glasgow in 1921. He built what became a household name in the Italian shipbuilding industry.

He was born in Varazze, Genoa, Italy to the famous Naval Architect Pietro Baglietto. In 1906, Pietro Baglietto launched 'Giuseppina' the largest combustion engine yacht ever built in Italy, and by 1911, the Baglietto Shipyard in Varazze was well known to sailing aficionados and specialists alike.

Following Pietro's death in 1911, the shipyard passed to his sons Bernardo, Giovanni Battista, Stefano and Vincenzo. Vincenzo Baglietto enrolled at the University in 1911 to study Engineering, but after four years (1911-14) his studies were interrupted by the First World War, during which he served in the Italian Air Force. The war also temporarily changed the Baglietto name which had until then been primarily associated with leisure boats, as they were commissioned by the Italian Navy to supply anti-submarine motor boats (MAS), which were designed by Vincenzo himself. Built with a step hull, Baglietto’s MAS were used throughout the world by the Japanese, Finnish, French and Swedish Navy.

Baglietto returned to the University in 1919 and graduated on 26 April 1921 with a BSc in Naval Engineering. He returned to Cantieri Navali, Varazze. Throughout the 20th century the shipyard was renowned for being at the cutting-edge of naval technology, winning numerous yachting competitions for design and engineering. In 1929 Baglietto designed La Spina the first 12metre yacht built in Italy. Baglietto died in Varazze in 1978.